Stop the Dad Jokes!

 

Stop the Dad Jokes! by Adrian Beck, illustrated by Simon Greiner (Puffin) PB RRP $17.99 ISBN 978171043086

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This rhyming picture book starts with the words, ‘Me and my dad (sic) were off to the zoo…’ Its theme is how a child can be embarrassed by parents; in this situation, it’s by dad jokes. Even ‘Mr Giraffe’ tells dad jokes (‘Can you guess my favourite fruit? A NECK-tarine.’) The lion says he ate a clown once – ‘it was very funny.’

Every dad joke you can imagine is trotted out as father and son move around the zoo. In the final pages dad says to his son that he (and other dads) tell jokes that ‘stink… to show we care.’ When the pair get into the car to go home, Mum who’s driving, has her own joke.

This book is marketed, of course, for Fathers’ Day. It is full of embarrassing, goofy and not funny jokes. Children aged 5 to 8 years will most likely laugh at them, though. Its illustrations are bold, colourful, and cartoonish.